Over 64,000 people staying in Australia on expired visas

More than 64,000 people are existing in Australia illegally after having intermittence their visas, 12,000 of them for over twenty years, the Immigration Department has manifest.

The department captures the number of what it calls illegal practice non-citizens on June 30 every year.

The number of people staying in Australia illegally was 64,600 last year as of June 30. The department said this year the number has abided “largely static”.

According to the numerical data disclosed to a Senate Committee, the Department of Immigration apparent that 12,080 people have been living illegally in Australia for more than twenty years. 6,670 people have overstayed their visas by 15 -20 years.

The department couldn’t endow an estimate of the number of illegal lockout non-citizens who are working in Australia. But it said of the 12,966 illegal non-citizens located in 2016-17, 1,756 were working invalidly.

Bureaucrat of the Australian Border Force, Roman Quaedvlieg said their focus is on the facilitators of clandestine labour hire intermediaries formerly than individuals who breach their visas.

“We have spontaneously detained about 3,000 or so people in the field, but I should emphasise that our current fundamentality focus is not on the individual visa holder, per se, however they are particularly high risk,” Mr Quaedvlieg told the committee.

“What we have done over the ultimate two years since the ABF was instituted was to start targeting the facilitators and the enablers of organised exploitation in the system such as exertion hire intermediaries, dwelling abroad brokers, offshore visa sponsoring houses, educational institution, employers et cetera.”

The Department said its team of 193 field adherence officers are founded out of the capital cities in Australia and conduct operations in all areas, including territorial areas.

A vast adulthood of those overstaying their visas, a total of 47,000, came to Australia on comer visas. Nearly 10,000 of those were on student visas.

Nick Xenophon Team Senator Stirling Griff said the long period for which thousands of people have been invalidly working in Australia makes a mockery of the border conservancy.

“Given that nearly 20,000 illegal overstayers have been in Australia for more than 15 years, it makes a decision of the border protection focus on so called longboat people and their lack of Australian placement,” Fairfax Media repeat him as saying.

Senator Griff said there should be superior surveillance around those reaching on visitor visas.

“Most of these nearly 65,000 would have travelled to Australia by air and the overwhelming multitude have settled into Australian life, with little – if any – regard for our laws and answerability.

“At a time the Federal Government is rejuvenation the 457 visa scheme in order to protect Australian jobs, it should not be diversion a blind eye to some 20,000 visa over-stayers who sustain to work almost unchecked,” Senator Griff said in a statement.